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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Dubious PhD Faculty Members

Regular readers of my posts will know that I'm fairly critical with regards to the standards and quality of academics and lecturers in many of our local private colleges. I've received complaints, many as comments in my earlier blog posts with regards to the lecturer's language abilities, experience as well as competence. Because of that, I've always urged the relevant authorities to require private colleges to published detailed resumes of faculty members to allow for more detailed scrutiny of the quality of teaching at the college.

Well, here's an additional important reason. It's something which I've known and hinted for a while now, but for one reason or other, I've not had time to conduct a thorough research on it, to make it a bigger expose here. But given a slow news week on education, I thought, I might as well publish all the evidence I have here, and possibly let the bloggers and readers out help out with additional research. ;)

I have discovered that a significant number of faculty members at some of our more prominent colleges employs PhD holders with qualifications secured at dubious or even bogus institutions such as the now infamous Irish International University, blogged here.

KDU Management Development Centre (KMDC), which operates as a professional development centre under KDU College Sdn Bhd in Petaling Jaya certainly employs some of these luminaries. In KMDC faculty profile pages, if you go through some of the instructors qualifications, you'd find that many of the facilitators doctorates are obtained from dubious sources. For example:

[Update 28 Nov 06: Please note that KMDC has removed some of the dubious profiles listed below from the website. I have saved copies of it to avoid defamation charges.]

1. Dr. James Chong PhD (Ire, 2002)"Dr. James Chong has a PhD from Irish International University, Ireland..."

2. Dr. Ragunathan PhD (2002), MBA (1999)"Dr. Ragunathan has a PhD in Business Administration and MBA from Newport University, United States... Dr. Ragunathan lectures on Research Methodology for the MBA and MSc programs."

For Dr James Chong, the university doesn't exist in Ireland, if it even "exists" at all! So where did you attend your PhD programme, the headquarters of IIU in Pakistan? As for Newport University where Dr Ragunathan obtained his PhD and MBA, it is definitely not recognised by the Office of Degree Authorisation in Oregon, United States, which clearly lists colleges which are either unaccredited or diploma mills.

More interestingly, I found a Dr Jacky Chin whose credentials are in my opinion, impossibly impeccable.

Dr. Jacky Chin holds numerous academic and professional qualifications and has been awarded the Outstanding Young Malaysian Award (2000) in the Category of Academic Leadership and Accomplishment. He has written countless publications. Dr. Chin consults extensively and holds professorships in many International universities and learning institutions. He is currently undertaking 3 doctorate programmes in various leading universities.

And more interestingly, if you dig a little more on the over-achiever, you'd find that

...Malaysian academic, Prof. Dr Chin Yew Sin, has his name listed in the Record Book of World’s Initiators for his immense achievements in the academic field. Dr Chin holds 12 world records, some of which are: The first person in the world to have attended eight graduation ceremonies to obtain five degrees and three post-graduate diplomas and certificates from the US, UK, Australia, Scotland and Malaysia in a year; first person in the world to have four bachelor’s degrees and graduated in the same year; first person in the world to complete a Bachelor’s of Arts (Hons) degree in Business Administration in four months, a Masters in Business Administration in nine months and a Doctorate in Business Administration in 15 months; and first person in the world to have 72 qualifications, including 11 degrees, post-graduate diplomas and certificates, two diplomas, 15 certificates, seven professional certifications and 37 professional memberships.

Frankly, I would think Sir Isaac Newton would have difficulty competing with Dr Jacky Chin.

[Update: A little bird who spoke to the Centre's Director who gave "some excuse that Jacky Chin was only a 'consultant' for one project."]Now with at least 3-4 out of KMDC's list of 7 faculty members in possession of doctorates originating from dubious sources, what does it reflect upon the institution itself? I have yet include faculty members whose PhDs and DBAs originates from a little known college in Australia, Southern Cross University, whose Graduate College of Management specialises in "distance education programmes".

Now, KMDC certainly isn't the only college which employs such faculty members. Prominent Chinese educationist, Dr Yap Sin Tian of Southern College, also secured his PhD from Kensington University in Hawaii/California in 1990, which has since been closed by court order. He has also obtained another Doctorate in Philosophy of Education from, ah, Southern Cross University in 1999.

Another director of the college, Dr Chong Swee Huat, apparently secured his doctorate from a St Clements University, with origins in Turks & Caicos Islands and various African sites.

And this simple discovery is just from 2 colleges which published a little detail on their faculty members. The little details allowed me to do a little investigative research. For most of the other private colleges, large or small, I have no access to names of faculty members which clearly limits my ability to uncover more "scandalous" information. I would not be surprised even, if some of our public universities may have unknowingly recruited some of these candidates with dubious certifications.

For the benefit of the fee paying students in the market, it is critical that the Ministry of Higher Education put down the necessary rules and regulations which requires the private colleges to publish the credentials of their key faculty members. With these information, at least it will be possible for students and concerned parties to be able to have a better idea of the type and quality of lecturers who they are likely to be taught in the college.

Should any readers out there managed to retrieve any other list of faculty members in other colleges, particularly those with apparent doctorates or MBAs, please feel free to email the list to me. I'll see what else I can find.

OK, it's been a long day, gotta get some sleep ;). You may also read more on my various posts on bogus universities here.

122 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Did you notice that Dr Jacky Chin's undergraduate business and engineering degrees are in 2000 and 2001 and then he has his MBA and DBA in 1997 and 1999 respectively. Must be a new trend. Do your DBA before your undergraduate degrees.

the college that i went to had an accounts lecturer who held two M.B.As. When I asked him where did he get his MBAs from he became rather defensive about the issue and said "does it matter where i got my M.B.A from", he has never revealed from where he got his M.B.A , only that he has two of them, fishy U bet.

I bet that these so-called "academics" bought their doctorates from diploma mills... I heard from a friend once that her friend, who is a business trainer, actually bought an MBA to "justify" his right to conduct training..... what a load of cr*p!!!

Do not worry, I know there is a Lecturer working with Curtin, Sarawak has a "virtual university" MSc degree from USA. If you check with the univerisity in State, the University is just the size of a shop and the University degree is very popular in east Malaysia. If a University like Curtin is able to make such a big mistake than what KMDC slip is forgivable. {ha, ha}

Well done! We will all be doing ourselves and our children a favour by submitting CVs of lecturers of these colleges to you for further discovery.

The crux of the problem is, I think, this pre-occupation that our kids MUST have a degree. Somehow, somewhere. If the quality of the attainable degree is dubious, never mind, keep one eye close and hope for the best; something is better than nothing. NOT TRUE.

To have a nothing and believing it to be a something can only feed the "short-cut" mentality and inevitably results in early career capitulation, because the actual skills and abilities will not commensurate with the responsibilites of the position obtained by deception.

My fellow humans, it does not work that way. Goods that you know are not lasting will not last long, so you will not buy them? Degrees are no different. Nothing is lasting if founded on shaky basis or foundations. The only thing that can be made lasting is our brains, and we must accept that it operates on a garbage-in-garbage-out principle.

There is nothing wrong with a technician-level qualification. In fact, it is my observation, looking at the West, that people with hand skills, such as plumbers or electricians, are the ones with a job for life, while graduates quickly run out of work. And I am referring to examples of accountants engineers and lawyers, so you can imagine the plight of those holding degrees with new spangled names which says nothing about what they can do.

It really irks me that these cheaters bought their ways in into the colleges and universities. They have deluded the schools management, the FEES PAYING students, the poor parents, and the nation as a whole. What incensed me more is that higher education ministry 'closes one eye' over the matter and takes no action against these shams. No wonder our education system sucks. Over time, it will stink even more. Anyone can smell the stench?

I believe this bogus PhD not only happen in private colleges. How about our public universities? Recently, some universities tend to hire overseas lectures. However, with our 'small' budget, there's no way we can hire the best. My concern is do they actually check the background or not? Or everything just depends on CV? If they claim to have 100s publications, do we have a procedure to check it?

What Tony is dishing out are serious allegations. What are the private colleges doing about this? Are they even aware of the matter? Or are they conspirators as well? Since Tony is close to the private colleges, why not sound it out to them?Its one thing to blog it down and finish with it, it is something more to blow the whistle and expose them!

Maybe we should headhunt people who create equations like this http://benkaiser.blogspot.com/2006/11/malaysian-formula.html

to be lecturers. At least this chap created an ingenious equation for Malaysians. This beg the actual question, with a string of degress and qualification the lecturers claim, what have they actually contributed in terms of solid academic research or discovery?

"1997 Doctor of the University Graduates: Dr Chong Swee Huat has been awarded the honorary degree Doctor of the University in Education, specialising in Malaysian Chinese Education. His contribution is evident in earning the award "Best Teacher" from the Chinese Independant High School Teachers Association, and his work in translating Chinese-English dictionaries. Dr Chong Swee Huat has been the President of the Southern College since 1990"

So, what is Doctor of the University?ANSWER: The Doctor of the University is the only honorary doctorate degree St Clements University issues and a maximum of three can be issued per calendar year"

So, it is a Hornorary Doctorate, not an earned academic degree. Should we address him Mr Chong Swee Huat (Hon. Dr)? I guess he can not take it easy {ha. ha}

HELP put up lots of lecturers' with PhD qualification in the adverts. However, many of them just "lend" their name to HELP. They don't actually teach there.

I did a master at HELP in the past, while doing master, one of the subject was taught by my classmate, who is a lecturer there "with a degree". So the lecturer with the degree actually taught us while he was also doing the master cours. He name was put down as tutor while the lecturer, a doctorate, never taught us.

All IPTS that have been upgraded to university or university-college status must have a certain percentage of their academic staff with PhD, a requirement under quality control by LAN.

So in bodohland, people are not bodoh but smart and innovative - they know how to source for instant higher degrees from foreign universities. Employers certainly very happy. Why bother to check and double check?

Ministry people will not check too closely too, 'cos many ministry people also get their degrees and higher degrees the same route. Sama-sama, jangan play-play.

Bogus PhD is bad, but for my ex-uni (MMU) there are so few Drs/PhDs in my faculty (IT), just look their website and you will know, they not dare to show their lecturers' qualification also. you are lucky if you can find 20% of them are real IT people. They just simple dump unwanted people in that faculty, their dean also not IT also. Sucks, 3 years there and didn't learn anything damn things, I challenge you to do a survey on them. MMU grads, save your uni, expose and change MMU now.

Re. public varsities, they seem to be doing somewhat better - at least based on information available on the web (and the limited number of people I know/know of working there). For the most part people seem to have real PhDs and some departments at UPM for instance have almost 100% PhD-holders in the upper ranks of their teaching staff (lecturer and above).

I am a student at MMU. Are you sure we don't learn anything at MMU or are you the only one who didn't learn anything? It is unfair to comment on our behalf just because you felt that you didn't learn anything.

The faculty of IT websites have the staff info:

http://fit.mmu.edu.my/staffpage/staffmain1.php

Our dean Dr. Ewe got his masters from MIT (in Engineering and Comp. Science) and his PhD with MMU.

Info: http://pesona.mmu.edu.my/~htewe/

Anyway, how can someone go to uni for 3 years and not learn anything? Don't you do any self study after class? I mean for me and my classmates, after certain classes, we have to spend time in the library and lab to practise the topics before finally understanding what was gone through in the lecture. But I think that is the way uni students should learn, rather than just attend lectures, don't get it, and then say you didn't learn anything.

Amazing...I have never realised such fraud exists...particularly amongst educationists who are supposed to train the next generation...how could these people sleep at night? Stratford uni, Rutherford Uni as splashed prominently on LEAD centre website (which is accreditated by Ministry of Swaziland-hahaa)...How could anyone with a proper qualification work with these conmen? but I am naive...

Seriously someone should do a 'Panorama' type documentary (not sure about equivalent in the US) about this issue..

MMU bad? I have two close friend who graduated with PhDs with me some years back (from the UK), and now work at MMU. I've remained in the UK. When I visited MMU a few years ago, I was quite impressed with the facilities actually! But I guess it's what you do with the facilities. MMU's are way better than many top UK universities, but one big complaint was the lack of time to do proper research due to the heavy teaching load.

There is definitely a move to do better research in MMU. For instance, they've held lots of conferences in the past few years, and I've been told that they are now only allowed to submit to indexed conference overseas.

A little bit of update. I've screened through the long list of academics published in the Help University College website, and it does look fairly clean. It helps when there aren't that many "Dr"s in the first place.

Only little concern is a significant number of them obtained their postgrad qualifications from CSU, Australia.

As for existence of Irish Int'l University mentioned by Anon above, please check my earlier post on IIU for context.

Yes, you are right. My friend is doing his PhD in engineering at MMU and he told me he has to publish two IEEE/IEE journal papers (conference papers are not in consideration) before he can call for viva.

Why dont these private colleges come clean and own up? If not they are no better than the rogues you meet on the street! How can we respect the private colleges with all their promises when they dont show who their lecturers are?

It is supply and demand. Where there is sugar there are ants. If there are suckers out there willing and voluntarily pay the money then what can we do? It is better if the students themselves make a fuss and sue their schools for cheating them.

Regarding this amazing Jacky, which is the site or authority that commended him on his "achievements"? It's puzzling ... getting his bachelors after his doctoral(s), doing 3 doctorates at the same time (why so many PhDs needed?), completing a bachelors in several months, collecting so many degrees ... what for? It just sounds too amazing. This would be an interesting guy to meet, definitely! I 'd like to ask him how he manages his time so effectively!!!

There's probably many loopholes in these cheap degrees. You may reuse your assignments to submit to different colleges to get several MBAs. If you do MBA with 3 low ranking universities concurrantly, I m sure they will not know that you are using the same assignments for all 3.

Then sometimes be exempted for more than 50% for some degrees and therefore can complete within months. I see some adverts in the newspaper now where you can be exempted for so many subjects that u end up taking only 4 papers.

All this guy needs is lotsa time and money and of course patience to do the same thing over n over again.

I can't understand how can a person be completing so "several" PhDs at one time. I am currently a PhD candidate in Tokyo and its content is very vigorous. If a person is credible, it is not the number of PhDs or degrees that one possesses but it is the person's contribution to the area of research, the new discoveries or new applications to an existing thought or process that counts.

There are people who are life-long professional students, collecting degrees from various universities throughout their lives. Trying to go for records. Beneath it all, it's a manifestation of an insecurity complex and lack of original ideas.

Most universities forbid their students to sign up for concurrent degrees. However, there are also universities that collect students as long as they pay their fees. Just a business deal.

So, folks, having many degrees does not mean someone is brilliant. Often, that person does not know what to do with themselves with the so-called knowledge gained.

A PhD degree does not mean that the holder has reached the summit of a mountain. It is actually a licence to do serious independent research. The holder is actually at the foot of the mountain, about to climb the mountain. A PhD holder in any field should be actively pursuing research to push the frontier of knowledge, publishing, and supervising students, not going around doing mind-dulling activities like collecting more meaningless degrees.

Getting degrees is easy but knowing to do original, useful, and meaningful things independently is difficult.

The ISA should be used on these 'PhD' monkeys and their employers who abetted with them...these conmen are ruining the standard of education of our country, apart from cheating our students. Mandatory whipping for these white-collar criminals should be administered while they are undergoing their sentence which should not be less than 10 years.

Good topic to be taking about. You will be surprised that many smaller colleges (even some big ones) use "doctorates" to teach. If we as a nation want to grow as an education hub and be seen as leaders in education, we got to change mindsets, pump in quality education and stop all these nonsence.

Anon of Tue Dec 05, 07:21:54 AM,"I can't understand how can a person be completing so "several" PhDs at one time. I am currently a PhD candidate in Tokyo ...".

Obviously you are not of the same calibre. In fact neither Einstein nor Stephen Hawking are of the calibre of Dr Jacky Chan. Both have only 1 PhD each. I hope the Government will act urgently before Harvard, Oxford or Cambridge found out about Dr Jacky Chan and lure him away with a professorship. Malaysia would have lost another to the brain drain. Please someone do something before it's too late.

I have been wondering about these private universities for a long time. Thanks God that I bumped into this blog. There are always loopholes in guidelines provided by relevant agencies in setting up private learning institutions. What is written in the proposal will not always be same when it is being implemented. There are many interesting comments - positive and negative - on the nature of some these private learning institutions running their institutions. I am not trying to summarize the comments but just feeling diappointed with what is happening now. Being an academician in a local university, holding only one PhD and, inevitably being insulted by 'some people' who have no heart and soul, exploiting this profession - honesty has to be in you first - for other personal or corporate benefits, if it is happen to be true.Anyway, I will forward the link to this blog to other academicians at the University of Malaya.

OUM? PhD fast and recognised by the government? By recognised by the world or not?

Obviously Useless Masterplans right?

The teachers at OUM, they got how many publications or citations in reputed International Journals? Published articles in obscure Malaysia or Pakistani journals are obviously below the mark of top Universities in the world.

Go do a google.

Top UK, US, Canadian and even Singapore Universities need citations and publications in reputed International Journals to give you a Master degree, not to say even a PhD. We are becoming a joke with all our self-justifications with all these bogus "many publications" (on toilet paper?) but not say where!

"Hi, MMU is not like OUM. Some of the lecturers there have quite impressive CV.

And as some of you said, I do agree that it is better than some of the british universities"

Some 1 is also some, 2 is also some. To teach a Bachelor's, you must have 100% PhD lecturers. What kind of some standards are we applying here?

Why compare to the lowest echleons of the British Universities while claiming to be "best" in Malaysia? You mean to say the best in Malaysia equals to the worst in other countries? Surely you insult our Ministers!

Kemayan ATC is also a sickening college. They pay the staff late, and look at their website, the business school near klcc doesnt exist anymore, operating without lan of course, the faculty list, most of them arent there anymore.what a load or crap for these so called academicians, from the ceo with bogus qualification but lecturing law, to the registrar (another Irish qualified fella)etc!!! waaaaaaaakakakaka...... and there are other law schools, nirvana la, gemilang la, all ex kemayan idiots, and the best thing is , check their credentials, they are producing lawyerssssssss for god's sake.

Now there are bogus students too with crappy degrees and show offs telling lecturers what to do with their qualifications. Little do they realise their so called reputable degrees from reputable universities may also just be lip service.

Sligtly off topic, but is a PHD from OUM (Open University Malaysia) really not up to standard? I am considering pursuing a PHD as a part-time candidate and the flexibility of the OUM program is appealing as it allows me to keep my existing job, pay the bills and yet continue with something i am passionate about

You are a bit unfair. CSU (Charles Sturt University) and Southern Cross University in Australia are both actual universities with live undergraduate populations of some thousands as well as postgraduate programmes. Admittedly, they are provincial. are in the distance learning and international education business, have some remote campuses and other lower-academic-pecking-order traits.

I wish to correct and clarify one item in your blog with regards to Southern Cross University (SCU) as mentioned by you. South Cross University, Lizmore, NSW, Australia is an Australian Public University governed by the laws of Australia. Southern Cross University is an Australian Government university that is recognised by governments and professional bodies throughout the world. It is NOT a dubious degree mills university. Please go to their website - http://www.scu.edu.au/about/index.php?page_id=4&menu=1_9 for a complete history of SCU.

It is to my knowledge that the personalities that were mentioned in your blog that claimed to have a “Doctorate” from Southern Cross University did not get their “Doctorates” from Southern Cross University but a “Doctor of Management” from an association/institution call International Management Centres Association (IMCA – http://www.i-m-c.org). I have personally viewed that “Doctor of Management” Certificate and it is quite unfortunate that “Southern Cross University” was mentioned in it. However, for obvious reasons, all those who received such a “Doctor of Management” degree claimed that that “Doctorate” degree is from the Southern Cross University and not a word is mentioned about IMCA.

To the best of my knowledge, Southern Cross University does not have such a degree called “Doctor of Management” and neither those personalities who claimed to have a “Doctor of Management” from Southern Cross University are listed in its list of DBA Graduates. Please refer to: http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/index.php?page_id=157&menu=196_173.

For your information, I have done my studies and research conscientiously and am a proud DBA Graduate of the Graduate College of Management of the Southern Cross University. It really irks me to see the way Southern Cross University’s being associated with those Degree Mills and having its name being tarnished in this way.

In Sarawak, we have Junita Lim from Batu Lintang Teachers college using fake PhDs, her husband is also using one. can you imagine someone who teaches at a teachers' college using a fake PhD. what the hell is the govt doing?

I have a PHD from University of Malaya.While working for UM full time,i applied KMDC for a part time lecturer job.I didn't take it.During the interview,the interviewer told me that KMDC is only interested in making money.In his attempt to bargain my pay,I was asked not to teach my subject in depth,as the students in KMDC are stupid.He repeatedly said,"if they are smart,they won't be here".Needless to say,i thanked him for his time and left.

Hi!I will further my MSc studies in coming May. As i know, not much companies are looking for PhD holders. For a fresh PhD, how much can we expect from either private companies or lecturers?My research is focused on AI or Biometric area. I have decided to move my way until PhD. Any comments and advices will be appreciated. Thanks

I attented a workshop conducted by one faculty member of Fakulti Sains Kemasyarakatan (USM). He hold 2 undergrad degrees and numerous master's degree (at least five) as shown in his slideshow but he didnt revealed from where he obtained those degrees.

Yes, the centre is filled with backstabbing people and lending books to faculty is like asking them for a gold mine. Secondly, the manager Boon is a really unfriendly person. Hate to think students have an issue with him.

this sounds scary..we are playing a huge sum of money and in the end they provide us with lecturers who certainly do not have the necessary qualifications..i hope actions will be taken by the ministry to ensure that local or private universities hired good quality lecturers with "real" qualifications..ive been following the discussin on this blog for some times and im wondering the quality of private unversities compared to local ones..recently i heard that UNITEN aka university tenaga nasional has been accredited by Imeche which supposingly a professional engineer board in Uk..obtaining the accredition from them will enable degrees in the university to be recognize in UK..? hope to get some feedback from you Mr Tony..or maybe anyone might help out in clarifying this matter..how is University tenaga nasional faring as a private uni?

Yap Sin Tian is not with Southern College which is JB based. He is with New Era College, Kajang. Likewise, I think Chong Swee Huat is with New Era College if he and Yap Sin Tian are both directors of the same college. until now, I think Southern College is professionally managed until someone tells me it is not. However, New Era College has a highly qualified principal or vice chancellor. I fail to understand why these Chinese educationalists need these dubious qualifications. Can someone shed some light on this.

Yay, I'm going to a reputable UK university soon! Top 5 in the world too!! My, the fees I feel are exorbitant! Ah well, some sacrifice had to be made to avoid all this madness!! Fake PHDs, college mills, what a load of b**l!

Put it this way, PhD does not mean everything. Similarly, without PhD does not mean the lecturer is not qualified.

Let me share with you:

a) In 1985, I studied Mechanical Engineering in Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI, now known as Nanyang Technological University) in Singapore. Two of the Asscociate Professors from UK did not have the PhD degrees. Before they came to NTI, they taught at UK polytechnics (which had been converted into universities). Despite not having any PhD, these two lecturers demostrated their practical knowledge in the fields. I enjoyed their lectures/tutorials. In fact, without much efforts, I could understand the subjects such as Thermodynamics and Mechanic of Machine easily. 20 years after my graduation, I still remember the subjects.

b)In 1989, I went to University of Nottingham to study a MSc in Manufacturing Engineering. Similarly, I encountered a Dean without PhD degree. In fact, he was later assigned to Malaysia and set up University of Nottingham Malaysia. This professor did not have an academic PhD degree. But, he has the industrial experience and knowledge that you will never find in any textbook, journals, publications. When he arranged for the MSc class to visit the Yamazaki's CIM plant in UK, we really open my eyes.

Because of these two exposures, I subsequently gave up my PhD study. Let me share with you the reasons:

a) Technology and industry change rapidly - especially in the 21st century. Publication, textbook, etc will take long cycle to present the knowledge. By the time, a specialize field is published as textbook, it is most likely obsolete.

b) There are things that you will never be able to find from textbook - trade secret, knowledge protected by patterns, intellectual property.

So, don't look down at instructors that don't have PhD degrees. Sometimes, they probably don't bother to get one. Look, Michael Dell and Bill Gates don't even have a bachelor degree.

I would like to point out a more serious issue in Malaysia of staff who hold "dubious" PhD's from respected institutions.

Since market forces are slowly taking control of the management in most western universities, there is great pressure to attract more full fee-paying students.

Keep this in mind as I illustrate my point with an example. When I was a Masters student in UM I came across a fairly young research Professor who was also held the respectable title "Dato". I knew little of his formative years, but I came to know he held a MBBS from UM and a PhD from the prestigious London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Let call him Prof.X.

Over kopi we chatted inside Dunkin donuts outside Universiti Hospital. I was struck how much he struggled with spoken English, so we switched back and forth in Bahasa.

I nearly fell over my chair as he described his time in the UK. He was on a government scholarship (SLAB Scheme), For those who are unfamiliar with the Slab scam scheme, it is basically a training programme tailored for ‘outstanding’ bumiputeras with professional qualifications to embark on an academic career.

Under the Ministry of Health (MOH) ruling, all doctors are required to serve at least four years before being eligible to apply for specialty training in the Masters programme in local universities.

I was shocked to know that his written English was very poor back in his student days and he struggled through his MBBS but passed? He complained about the content of the English based curriculum in UM. However, on completion he was prepared to tackle further studies as he was keen to do specialisation (I will not reveal his discipline lest I give away his identity). He applied and was awarded a Slab scholarship to do his PhD studies in London.

His PhD supervisor in LSHTM didnt take long to discover he would struggle with his writing. Prof. X. eventually was going to throw in the towel and go back to Malaysia. But his supervisor was very nice, and infact took care to specially help him. How you might ask?Step 1 - Prof X was asked to conduct the data collection with cookbook recipe type instructions that meant he could mechanically finish this part of the project.

Step 2 - His supervisor took the data and started writing chapters for him.

Step 3 - At the end of the project the supervisor asked Prof X. to re-read what was done for him (part of the learning process apparently), the final PhD thesis was completely written by the supervisor.

Step 4 - Prof X graduated. He was appointed as a senior lecturer on his return from UM and at the age of 46 became a full professor. I came to know the good professor has to this day never published one single peer reviewed journal article on his own (he boasted)! He laughed to me and said that was up to his students (he of course happily put his name on their papers)

In recounting this story I should point out that this scanrio has repeated itself for schoalrship students from numerous countries in some very prestigious universities even here in Australia. The whole point is Universities in Australia and the UK are anxious not to scare away potential sources of PhD and MSc scholarship students by failing them. Writing their research dissertations is normal practice!

So when you next go to your local Malaysian public uni check to see if your colleagues sitting next to you actually wrote their PhD! chances are the answer might be "no lah!"

I'm appalled! I was rejected from being a tutor in a local public U because they said I didn't qualify, although I graduated on the dean's list from a top ten university in the US. And I am a Bumi, so race isn't an issue (not that it should anyway). And Prof. X got the SLAB scheme?! And here I am self-funding my PhD studies in the UK, worrying about money. I'd like to get his super though because mine is breaking my back over things. One thing's for sure - am not going back to Malaysia to work! HA-HA.

Our enemies are all those in league with imperialism - the warlords, the bureaucrats, the comprador class, the big Landlord class and the reactionary section of the intelligentsia attached to them. The leading force in our revolution is the industrial proletariat. Our closest friends are the entire semi-proletariat and petty bourgeoisie. As for the vacillating middle bourgeoisie, their right-wing may become our enemy and their left-wing may become our friend - but we must be constantly on our guard and not let them create confusion within our ranks. -Mao Tse Tung

Kok Ben, you are not one of those click reactionary in league with Westerners, are you not?

At some of the top notch universities in the world, PhD students and even at some, Masters and Honours students tutor classes while studying for their degrees. So what is so wrong with a HELP lecturer who is also studying for a postgraduate degree to teach his or her classmates when s/he has the knowledge and capability to do so? If those of you who accept and condone this at top notch unis in the world, and criticise HELP for doing the same, then you are practising double standards.

Another funny guy is Dr. Hoo Ke Ping (何啟斌), who regularly writes stupid articles in Oriental Daily. His eagerness to attract favorable attention from MCA's top management is well known in the market.

Since the dubious PhD issue become a hot topic in recent months, he has intentionally hide his DBA title when publishing his articles (in newspaper) for obvious reason. Based on the information given, he obtained his DBA from Southern Cross University (Australia) and M.Sc from University of Philippines (don't know why he decided to further his study in Philippines despite there were many other better choices). His academy qualifications also look suspicious!

I have an engineering degree from Uni of Michigan Ann Arbor, an MBA from a small institution in Adelaide called Gibaran and currently pursuing PhD in the University of Adelaide.

Having graduated at one of the top ranked university in the States (bachelors degree), small and private institution (masters degree), and back at a higher ranked university for my doctorate, I have experienced (and still experiencing) the various learning environment and "academic infrastructures".

I wish to contribute few cents of my thoughts with regards to this blog.

1. Southern Cross University IS NOT a dubious institution, degree mill, or fake university. It is indeed "located" at the bottom tier BUT SCU is without question a legit institution.

2. Institutions that are registered, accredited, and listed within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)and bear CRICOS certification number ARE DEFINITELY recognized WORLDWIDE regardless of their rankings, student body size, or government aids and contributions.

3. UBI (United Business Institute, Brussels) is one example of a small but ACCREDITED institution located in Belgium but no one has ever heard of it due to its poor awareness and marketing program.

My point is that after reading most of the posts here, some of the comments are completely unfounded due to the fact that some of the posters HAVE GOT NO CLUE WHATSOEVER especially about the concept of ACCREDITATION.

Any accredited institution would have undergone serious and rigourous academic and program audit. So there is no question about ranking vs accreditation as the argument is not within the sane sphere.

Rankings is definitely a subjective matter. My alma matter is a top engineering school in the US but its humanity and arts programs are fared lower than some of the 2nd tier institutions.

Rankings do not matter. It is the quality of the education that you are getting AND foremost your attitude towards getting the paper that counts.

Employers will favour a candidate from Wichita State Univ (2nd Tier) with 4.0CGPA than 2.5 Harvard graduate AT ANY TIME.

As far as MMU, UKM, UM, USM (apex) etc. are concern, do you seriously think that Americans, Australians and I can even bet Britons would send their kids over for any reason?

And do you seriously think that most of the foreign students in this country are here for our SUPERIOR education system than other countries?

Would I send my kids to lower tier American or Australian universities. Absolutely yes for these reasons.

1. Exposure2. Survival3. Global Recognition

I KNOW for a fact that if I were graduated from any lower-tiered but accredited American, Australian, or British am to be working (I used to work with Ford Motor Co. in Detroit MI for 3 years)in any part of foreign land in near future, my lower-tiered-university-degree WILL definitely fare better than any of the Malaysian institutions be them public or private at any time.

Recognition is really a matter of preception. Have a fren who is working for an International Organisation.

Each time they have a recruitment drive, Application Letters are divided into 2 categories, Applications with qualifications from Developed Countries and Applications with Qualifications from "Third World Countries".

The latter pile is not even considered at all and only reviewed when they are bored and need a good laugh.

Thats the fact of life but hey, it does not really matter that much if you are still in Malaysia, but step overseas, its a totally different story.

It is too much to comment about bogus qualification and the credits of institutions. Let us do some thinking:

If you ever earned a Master degree and graduated from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), why in the world pursuing a PhD in MMU?

The very first question is, Is MMU's PhD better thyan MIT's?

The subsequent questions lead to:

1.) Was he running out of fund to continue his PhD at MIT?

2.) Was he not competent enough to pursue a PhD at MIT?

3.) What made him to leave MIT to come back to Malaysia for a PhD?

And many more questions will follow.

It is good to spread the news. But youngsters and parents have no critical thinking at all and too cowardly to file a police report if a dubious lecturers are teaching their children, fearing that the university will take action against their children. Most people will say, "Just close one eye and finish your study and get a degree to get out without causing any troubles."

Where is the student's union? What have they done? Well, I think most of them will put up bossy post with business attires for a group picture. These bosses succumbed to university management.

One good example, is when MMU was trying to charge a "fee" to upgrade their IT infrastructure which included the campus-wide WIFI and their web applications. How many students dare to stand up to say "No" and raise awareness to the public? Only 4 attended the press conference I organized on behalf of them. The verdict, they have to pay RM50-RM100 every year (details at MMU Student's Representative Council's blog)!

Look at http://srcmalacca.blogspot.com/

And you can find the press conference blog and about the IT fee at my blog.

What use to have a big name such as "Students Representative Council"?

As long as students and parents are willing to pay, who cares if their lecturers' qualifications are dubious or not. Just close one eye to finish your degree and get out of the blood-sucking place without any trouble. Will you?

If you are willing to work hard and suffer, there are scholarship to US. Contact me if you are interested to get out of these shits!

Oh dear... I really need some help here. I recently am thinking of enrolling in this Graduate Diploma in Admin program by Institute of Professional Managers & Administrators, UK (IPMA UK), and saw this website while I was researching on it. Oh my goodness... I never knew that there were so many dubious degree out there! Really got a shock of my life. Do u happen to know anything about this IPMA UK too? Their website is www.ipmauk.com. Looks a little dodgy to me... I am honestly very disappointed with the number of dubious degrees out there... :(

Very sad, many places ppl aso have dubious qualifications - you go to KDU, you get some, you go to USM, you get some aso. Came across some academics that misrepresent their quals - exp: UWS, Australia is stated as Sydney and not Western Sydney. I'm not belittling UWS or anything but all academic institutions must ensure that staff do not 'fool' others with their quals.

Also, there are cases where staff member have no degree but have masters, got degree from Paramount institute etc. Very sad la....

Hey I know Dr Chin Yew Sin. He is a good guy. He is brainy. Why are you so malicious whacking him. He is indeed an icon. He meant no harm to you. He researched and refined Kong Ming Stategies and I read his book. And, I found it to be most resourceful. I attended one of his talks on this subject and he was motivating and it was a FREE seminar too.

Tony, you have to learn to be hamble. You want to hit out than you debate with Khairy la he is also your gang member from the rich and famous families who have $$$$ to send their kids to rich & famous universities.

I did my ABE and then proceeded to a UK University Final Year of BABS (Hons). My parents were government servants who could only afford so much. I studied in Malaysia but even so today i am a corporate manager. ABE at one time came out in the Star as a "Unrecognised Qualification to Nowhere". But i am now somewhere!

So I have a Preston University MBA. But I earned it through hard work. I attended 10 weekend modules, taught by qualified lecturers. I had to burn midnight oil to complete my assignements. I remember I was so paranoid over the Finance subject as I never liked figures but having gone through the seminar in Accounting & Finance for Executives, i now can pick up any Financial documents and translate the nemerical details.

My ex-classmate took his Preston MBA and got good exepmtions when he enrolled onto an Australian University Master in Marketing degree. I think he only needed to do the few marketing modules and he now possesses 2 Masters.

I believe the benchmark is that if you slogged for it, it must be bona fide.

I am an IT grad from MMU and planning to continue my MBA as I am currently in the project management line and feel that this would be an upgrade path for me. I could afford an MBA within 25k. I am looking at settling down in Australia 10 years from now. Could someone help suggest universities that I could do my MBA in according to the criteria that Ive given above? Is it better to do it at a local uni? MMU has a system whereby most of the study material is online...I have studied there before and have adapted to it. Do you think that I should directly do my MBA there? Whr can I get an affordable MBA from an average Uni? As for part time courses, which would be the best college or Uni that you would suggest? Kindly advise.

As an employer, I will like to ready a copy of the thesis of my prospective employee. Those from degree mills are the best start because I can pay a little lower and be very lucky to get one who did not put my company and myself into bankruptcy. I am more worrry if he says he comes from a fully accredited university, and base on these words I have delude myself into bring my company and myself into bankruptcy for not looking into his wordy thesis

Sligtly off topic, but is a PHD from OUM (Open University Malaysia) really not up to standard? I am considering pursuing a PHD as a part-time candidate and the flexibility of the OUM program is appealing as it allows me to keep my existing job, pay the bills and yet continue with something i am passionate about

Cheers"

HI there...DONT WORRY TO PURSUE YOUR DREAM WITH OUM. Remember one thing... if your PhD is recognised by the goverment; OUM, thats mean you have nothing to worry. Timeframe is not a big issue. In OUM, for you to complete ur PhD is between 3-6 years depending on ur capability. That is normal, i think...

AND...

A PhD candidate will be supervised by one or more supervisors. And the supervisors are sometime being engaged from other university, depending on the area of research. For example, Universiti of Malaya, may be... Are you saying, doing PhD with OUM, supervised by UM Proffesors is something that low in quality...???

Anyway.... out of these hundred of posting...i dont think that all of them holdings DR..

Lmao this is so fucking ridiculous and hilarious!This only proves Malaysian is so easy to mainipulate and thier money is so damn easy to cheat with.The possibility for Private College to print money is ridiculous as well in Malaysia.Must says thanks to living in a world with internet,atlease we can do some research ourself and know how those busniess tricks work lol

Newport University Malaysia is GENUINE and NOT a dubious paper mill University. I attended NUM and then only discovered that it was not recognised but continued to complete my degree (Business Admin) as i feel that the lecturers put in a lot of efford to teach and make sure the students comphrehend concepts and acquire practical usage skill.

NUM is much much better than many private and public universities in Malaysia. Please dont base your judgement on heresay alone.

We are all aware that "recognition" is by itself a 'dubious' term wherein to get recognised one needs to have 'cables' and more. The owners in USA and England have stuck to being 'clean' and are paying the price of being 'not recognised' but it does not mean they are not doing a good job.

I think many people who commented here know nothing about recognition, accreditation, ranking of universities or even simple stuff on educational issues and yet want to hammer out on other people or want to talk big here.

Some ppl even assume that qualifications from Malaysian universities are not recognised worldwide. Adui....go read up on recognition and accreditation first.

To those ppl who question why some preferred to study in Malaysia (eg. UM, UUM, OUM) and not overseas. Hello! We are not rich, ok! We are not born rich like Tony or Khairy.

Yes, scholarships are available at those prestigious overseas universities but we still have to fork out loads of thousand dollars first to stay there. Living expenses are not cheap, ok. So, you want to give us money to study overseas? If no, then shut up la...

I've been working with a well-known private institutions for 5 years and you do not want to know how the grading of students are done. Yes, some students may be right by saying that they have learned, however, this may only prove to be true for a small group. Perhaps, what a private uni. measure by students' learning is through the number of passes a lecturer is willing to give. With more passes a lecturer will have a higher KPI and subsequently a better pay followed by a promotion. So are students realy improving and learning? Or are the lecturers just stringing them along for their own benefit? Some private uni even hire more Caucasians who are above 50 (some do not have a degree)to make the whole crediblity thing look real to parents. Bottomline here is education is just a profit-making business service to private instituitions.

Regarding Malaysian education, I have found this as a comment for a newspaper article:

While Malaysia is very good for tertiary studies, students have to be careful when they decide to pursue their MA or PhD there. The courses themselves are fine and are of very good quality. The problem lies with the theses. Nobody will think it is normal for a student to wait for more than 8-9 months to have the viva. Worse, it takes 3-4 months to get the certificate after that. All of this time, you will be forced to sit in Malaysia and drink Teh Tarik (a local tea) and wait while the examiners and the university take all the time in the world to get your thesis approved. This is not only happening to me but to countless other international MA and PhD students in Malaysia.

No matter how hard you cry for help from the administration or even the rector, things will not change. The university will still consider it normal to take almost a year to process your thesis once you submit the final version for examination. Compare this to the fact that it takes only 1-2 month to get the viva in the US and UK.

I am not discouraging you but if the Malaysian government does not want to be more efficient and recognize that MA and PhD students are not for granted, people should not go there for MAs and PhDs. I would have thought twice of doing my PhD in Malaysia if I knew that I had to wait that amount of time to get my PhD.

I took 2 years to finish all my MBA modules. Spent at least 2-3 months to complete 2 short assignments and 6 months for my dissertation... I wonder how does he cope in his multiple studies within a year.... The answer is... IMPOSSIBLE!!

The benefits of only PhD programs exceed the shortcoming by far. Online programs can be easily tailored to fit into a working individual's schedule so that the studies do not interfere with work, or family life. Many students who thought their busy lives would prevent them from obtaining their PhDs have been proven wrong by the growing amount of online post-graduate programs that are available today.